The men’s basketball team eliminated UC-Colorado Springs from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament March 2 with an 85-62 victory.
“I’m confident that we’re doing good,” forward Glenn Miller said. “We’re picking up our game, picking up our team play.”
Metro is not only going to Pueblo for the RMAC semifinals, but they have also defeated UCCS for the 37th straight time.
“We knew what we had to do,” junior guard Donte Nicholas said. “We came into the tournament and it didn’t really matter who we played. We played like [the way] we play [normally] and we were going to come out and execute like we did today.”
Head Coach Brannon Hays was fortunate.
“I’m just happy that we got a win,” Head Coach Brannon Hays said. “We’re going to play each game as a team. If you get too high or too low, depending on how you play, you’re going to be inconsistent through the playoff time. We want to get a little bit better. We’ve got a game coming up on Friday [March 5] and we want to play a little better than we did today.”
In the first half, Metro started the game strong defensively. Metro outscored UCCS 25-12 in the first 10 minutes. Metro attacked the paint and their defense was just as efficient. At halftime, Metro led UCCS 37-26.
Metro forward Glenn Miller, right, looks for an opening to the basket against UCCS March 2 at the Auraria Event Center. The men's team won 85Ð62, advancing to the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament. Photo by Jason Bahl
Metro shot 14-31 from the floor, including 5-9 from beyond the arc, but only shot 4-8 from the free-throw line. Metro also had 10 points off turnovers and outscored UCCS in fast break points, 9-0. Defensively, Metro had eight steals. Meanwhile, UCCS shot only 10-26 from the floor, including 2-6 from the perimeter and 4-8 from the free-throw line, but outscored Metro 14-12 in the paint. Reserve center Shakir Johnson and Nicholas had three blocks each in the first half.
In the second half, it was all Metro. The team continued to attack the paint, resulting in a 12-0 run to increase their lead, 61-39. By then, it was over. Metro won the game, 85-62.
In the game, Metro shot 33-60, including an astounding 19-29 in the second half, from the floor.
In addition, Metro scored 34 points in the paint, outscored UCCS 26-10 in points off turnovers, 12-11 in second-chance points, as well as 12-4 in fast break points. Once again, Metro frustrated UCCS with their pressure defense.
“That’s the defense we want to play,” Nicholas said. “We knew all season that if we come out and play like that, playing aggressive defense for 40 minutes, you that reflect on the score tonight.”
Hays also took note of the pressure defense.
“Defensively, we pressured the ball,” Hays said. “It’s what we’ve done all year long. We’re going to stay with the things we do defensively, press the ball and keep it out of the paint. Offensively, our goal is to get the ball inside the paint. I thought our guys stepped up and took some good shots from the perimeter.”
The Roadrunners also won against UCCS Feb. 26, 87-65. They have won four of their last five games at home improving their overall record to 22-6.
“We’re definitely improving,” senior guard Brian Minor said. “We’ve got a lot of young talent. We showed spirit and how great we can be. All we’ve got to do is keep doing what we did today [Feb. 26] and we’ll be alright.”
Minor scored 21 points to go with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Nicholas and Evans added 18 points each.
Metro will travel to Pueblo March 5 for the RMAC semifinals.
“We’re going to do our scout[ing] on them (the next opponent), get some good practices in and we’ll come out and try to execute the game plan,” Nicholas said.
This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.